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I was watching the Candidates recently and noticed that the commentators talking about Wesley So’s last game got annoyed that he was aiming for a draw and didn’t really have any fight in him.

A draw was agreed after only 20 odd moves, and that got me thinking - if a top grandmaster were to aim for a draw against AlphaZero for instance, would they always manage? Can a Grandmaster force a draw?

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  • do you want to re-ask with superGM? of course answer is still no, but i wonder if the probability is a lot higher with superGM as compared to (non-super)GM
    – BCLC
    Aug 20, 2021 at 4:55
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    It's fine... I think the answer covers that pretty well as well. Guess there's a reason GMs haven't drawn against an engine in ages.
    – Arkleseisure
    Aug 20, 2021 at 8:12
  • About the Alphazero question - see chess.stackexchange.com/questions/32702/…
    – Allure
    Sep 18, 2021 at 1:20
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    Maybe the slightly more pertinent question is whether a (super) GM can always draw as white.
    – Steve Bennett
    Nov 3, 2021 at 3:40

1 Answer 1

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No. It may be difficult to win against a top GM who is playing for a draw, but it's by no means impossible.

If GM's could always draw at will, we could stop all championship matches once either player won a game, since the outcome would be decided. But we don't do that, because the outcome is not decided after one player gets one win.

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  • 1 - is the probability that a GM can (at least) draw (when playing for a draw of course) much higher than that of an IM? 2 - what about superGM vs (non-super)GM?
    – BCLC
    Aug 20, 2021 at 4:56

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